Urban Meyer gets rock star welcome at CSU

It was great to see Urban Meyer back at Colorado State, if just for a well received speech. It was even better to see Sonny Lubick soaking up the applause from an auditorium of college students.

Lubick arranged for the former CSU assistant and Florida coach to address the college of business in his role as community outreach director. He gave the formal introduction. Later I asked what his title is these days and in typical Sonny fashion, he told me he’d have to check his business card.

In any event, Meyer had the rock star welcome. Students took cell phone pictures with him, asked him to pose in a charity T-shirt, and there were constant autograph requests.

One student asked about the importance of mentors after Meyer spoke at length about the influence Lubick had on his career. At the age of 46, he’s way too young to be a fuddy-duddy old-school retiree, but he came out with guns smoking.

“The coaching profession has changed so much,” he said listing Lubick, Joe Paterno, Earle Bruce, Bo Schembechler ….. “they knew about team first and not some of this nonsense you read about today….

“Who are the leaders of the profession who do it the right way and demand excellence on and off the field and demand education. It’s very rare compared to what it used to be. ”

And in another sobering note, Meyer said he gave a speech at another campus and few knew who Schembechler was. Only a handful of CSU students heard of the late Michigan coaching legend.

Recognized as one of the best recruiters wherever he coached, Meyer agreed with one questioner that the emphasis on recruiting, even before an athlete’s senior year, leads to a sense of entitlement.

“I believe you see a lot of illegal recruiting going on. You see agent contact and you get a feeling you’re invincible,” Meyer said.

He claimed some off field scrapes are blown out of proportion but “there’s a lot of these young men who think they are invincible and think they can get away with it because ‘I was on TV when I was 18 years old putting on a hat.’ Yes it was an allusion to the ESPN signing day parade of college choices. And yes, he said his new employer carries some of the responsibility for the social issue.